


Another Sparrabeth Alphabet

by Ultra



Series: Sparrabeth Alphabet [2]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Captain Will Turner, Children, Crew as Family, F/M, Family, Growing Up, Jack being Jack, Married Life, Pirate Elizabeth, Pirate Will Turner, Pirates, Pregnancy, Sailing, Sequel, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-02
Updated: 2011-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-02 23:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 10,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15806313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: The continuing adventures of Jack & Elizabeth, plus their new baby. Ups and downs aplenty are to be expected!





	1. A is for Adventure

“All ashore, men! We’ve work to do!” said Jack with a glint in his eyes, as the crew disembarked with a collective joyous cry.

Clearly the work he spoke of also included something enjoyable, and Elizabeth knew why the men were so excited - this was Tortuga, legendary for sin and debauchery.

“Wonderful,” she said, though her expression suggested it was not what she meant as she appeared on deck. “Good fun for all on another adventure in which I play no part.” She sighed heavily.

“Now, now, luv,” replied Jack as he swaggered over to her, planting a kiss on her cheek. “You know we can’t just-”

“What I know,” she interrupted crossly, “is that I am fat, and tired, and once again being left behind whilst you go off on your latest adventures, doing God knows what with God knows who!” she complained, arms folded across her chest as she turned away from him.

“Come now, Lizzie,” he urged her, moving around to see her face but she refused. “First off, you are not fat, you are with child,” he reminded her, sliding his arms around her waist above the ever-growing bump, “and as tired as you may be, you are as beautiful as ever you were before you were not fat nor with child and ever shall be always, savvy?” He smiled, as she deigned to glance his way, a grin she could not help now curving her own lips.

“You are an abominable liar, Jack,” she told him, a good-natured sort of an insult by all accounts.

“Never said I wasn’t, dearie,” he pointed out easily, “but never with you. Well, not since you made an honest man of me and all that,” he reminded her.

She turned in his arms then, fixing him with a much more serious look.

“You will be tempted, Jack,” she told him. “By the women in the taverns, and who could blame you when I’m-”

“What you are,” he interrupted her this time, his hand at her cheek, “is Elizabeth Sparrow.”

“Captain,” she said pointedly, as he so often had himself.

“I stand corrected, luv.” He smirked at her gall. “ _Captain_ Elizabeth Sparrow. My wife. Mother of my soon to be child,” he reminded her, “and the biggest adventure of my wicked, treacherous life,” he finished, leaning in to plant a kiss on her lips, making Elizabeth wonder why she had ever for a moment been unhappy with her situation.


	2. B is for Baby

“You can come into the room, Jack,” Elizabeth prompted when he continued to hover in the doorway.

It wasn’t as if the great Captain Jack Sparrow could be afraid of what he was about to face, surely. Here before him lie his own cabin on his own ship, containing his own beloved Lizzie, and the baby she had just borne. Perhaps that was what worried him, the reality of their child. Though she smiled through it, there was a little worry in her heart, Elizabeth found. It had been a long time now since she suspected Jack might grow tired of her, though even when her body was forced out of shape by their child, he had still professed his love. Now they had a helpless baby to think of and there was a trickle of fear inside her that this would prove to be the opposite of what her husband would want.

“Huh,” he said as he walked in, tentatively, she noted. “Such a lot of fuss made for such a little thing.”

He smirked as he looked from the tiny baby in Elizabeth’s arms to her.

“Believe me, the fuss was quite necessary!” she told him, without a hint of humour as she spoke of the pain she had gone through in delivering this child, screaming so loud she was sure every loose item aboard had rattled. “But nevertheless worth it.”

She smiled then as she hugged her baby to her chest.

Jack came to sit on the edge of the bed, staring with apparent wonderment at the tiny bundle. It was like watching a child see a Christmas tree for the first time, the shock and astonishment, the glow in his eyes as he smiled widely then.

“She is... beautiful,” he said at last, causing Elizabeth to let out a breath she barely knew she’d been holding, “just like her Mum before her,” he declared, leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek.

“She has her father’s eyes,” she said definitely, staring down at her baby daughter with a sigh. “She’s ours, Jack. Our baby.”

It was strange for both of them to think about too much, the reality of them having this child together. She had always assumed there would be marriage and children in her future, though never quite like this, whilst he had always pictured a life of happy solitude - this was better than either could ever have imagined.

“S’pose we ought to name the little one, darlin’,” said Jack then. “Any thoughts?”

Elizabeth looked down at the baby, happy tears in her eyes as she nodded her head.

“Would you mind... Annabella?” she asked quietly. “For my mother.”

“Welcome aboard, Annabella,” her father said just as softly, and with a smile. “My own pirate daughter.”


	3. C is for Cursed

“Enough!” yelled Jack over the general furore of the crew all trying to talk over each other and at him. “What exactly is the problem here, Mr Gibbs?” he asked the one sensible man when all the rest managed to hold their tongues at last.

“Is somethin’ and nothin’, Cap’n,” he said awkwardly, “Sure and some of the men are just... well, y’see, we were talkin’ of old pirate tradition and law, of curses and such too, and a woman aboard ship-”

“Come now, Mr Gibbs.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Elizabeth has been with us since she was Miss Swann and always a woman as she is now, albeit a younger one, and therefore as we were not so very much cursed in those past years, we cannot be any the more cursed now, savvy?”

A moments pause had all the man unravelling their Captain’s rambled words, before a general muttering and whispering started up.

“See, Jack, it ain’t your dearly beloved that has us... them... She’s not the concern, Cap’n,” Gibbs tried to explain. “For now we have two women, or at least females,” he said, shifting his feet.

“Ah, so the problem is not a want to mutiny against my good self,” Jack noted with a dangerous smile. “Nor to throw dear Lizzy overboard,” he continued, “but to have rid of my babe in arms, is that it?”

A gasp behind him caught the attention of all, and every man’s eyes looked past Jack to his wife and fellow Captain who stood with a look of shock in her eyes and her precious daughter clutched to her chest.

“Very well,” said Jack, locking kohl-rimmed eyes with his beloved’s angry own. “Then it seems, dearie, we have come to a fork in the road... albeit on the water.” He frowned slightly before turning back to face his crew and continuing. “We, and by ‘we’ I refer to myself and the two females aboard,” he emphasised, even now pulling his sword from its sheath and finding a menacing expression for his men, “we shall be staying here on the Pearl, our home,” he informed them all. “Anybody here who is concerned about a curse they might be under is free to go... NOW!”

The final word was loud enough to rattle the rigging and send most of the crew scampering without another word. Gibbs and a few others remained a moment longer, though all looked shaken, as Elizabeth came to stand up beside her husband, kissing Annabella on the top of her head.

“Any further questions?” the female Captain Sparrow asked them.

“Not a one, ma’am,” smiled Gibbs as he glanced between the two, more sure than ever now that it was not a curse they had here amongst them, it was a miracle, for Jack truly was a family man first, and a pirate second.


	4. D is for Daddy

This was quite the odd situation for Captain Jack Sparrow, perhaps the oddest he had ever encountered aboard his ship, which was quite a feat considering the events of the past years.

Calypso had been broken from her human bones here, more than one mutiny had been made, the Kraken had swallowed the Pearl whole with Jack aboard, and yet this was a stranger day for the Captain.

“Never did fancy myself a father figure,” he said to the baby he had held against his body with one arm, the other being used to steer the ship. “Now a real father, eh? Taking some getting used to,” he told the child, or perhaps just spoke to himself, it was hard to tell with Jack sometimes.

“Course, ought to have known when I met your mum this was what I was destined form” he said, most definitely to the baby now, of course. “Wasn’t as if I was ever going to be rid of her long once we meant. It’s my magnetic personality, y’know?” He grinned, all white and gold.

Annabella gurgled, reaching out a hand to her father’s face, making a grab for the beads that hung from his chin, and then the trinkets dangling in his hair.

“Pretty lot of treasures.” He nodded, letting her play and not caring much. “Still, nothin’ that matters so much as you and your mum.”

It was still strange to Jack to realise that he meant such things as this, that he actually cared for people more than things, for love more than gold, for others more than himself.

“Sometimes you are the most infuriating man I have ever met,” said a voice, and Jack turned to find Elizabeth approaching from behind them. “And then I see you like this, and you’re saying something so beautiful.” She smiled as she reached his side, putting a hand to her daughters head. “It makes me quite forget everything else.”

Annabella giggled as she looked between Mummy and Daddy, clapping her hands with delight as if to show she thoroughly agreed with her mother’s sentiments.

“Nice to know you agree, Bella,” Jack smiled as he hugged her close and let go of the wheel to pull Lizzie into his other side.

“She loves her Daddy,” said Elizabeth, gazing up at him. “What woman wouldn’t?”

“Can’t think, luv.” He smirked, and she couldn’t even be bothered to argue.


	5. E is for Erudite

“The girl is but a babe in arms, dear Lizzie!” said Jack, astonished by the stack of books being piled high in his cabin.

Pintel and Ragetti had made three trips from the dock so far, with tome upon tome; the Captain was quite concerned that the desk would soon give way under the weight.

“She will not always be so young, Jack,” Elizabeth pointed out as a fourth set of books seemed to be the last of the collection. “And I want Annabella to be well-educated, even if I must be the one to provide the tuition,” she said, picking up the volume on top of the pile and flipping through the pages.

Jack looked from his wife to the child held in his arms. Annabella gazed up at him with wide innocent eyes, seemingly wondering what had caused her Daddy to look so glum. He might tell her, if he didn’t mind her knowing he carried fears, but that he refused to reveal to anyone, not even those he loved most in the world.

“Mother would have you be a bookworm, little Bella,” he told the baby who looked on without concern as she played with the trinkets in her fathers hair as she so often had before, “and here I thought you were a pirate.”

“Of course, she is a pirate, Jack.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes though she barely glanced away from her book as she spoke. “But there is no reason she must be a stupid one.”

“Ah, now here we come to the point of it, do we?” her husband said crossly, kohl-rimmed eyes narrowing at her. “Because you’ve read more books than me, makes you a bloody sight better then, does it, luv? Heaven forbid our darling daughter should be quite so stupid as dear old Dad!” he snapped.

Elizabeth was quite taken aback. She had certainly never meant to imply that Jack was in any way dim-witted. On the contrary, she sometimes felt she was quite the dunce when compared to him. He made such plans that even she could not keep up with and could talk himself out of many a situation. His grasp of mathematics and physics was such that he could make calculations in a heartbeat that had saved both their lives, swinging on ropes in manoeuvres that she trusted no-one but him to make.

“Jack,” she tried to get his attention, but his back was to her now as he gazed out of the window and made both the view and his daughter the only focus of his attention. “Jack, please,” she tried again as she moved up behind him, her hand at his shoulder. “You are in no way beneath me in education, we have just learnt in different ways,” she insisted. “Besides which, there are a great many things Annabella will rely upon you to teach her that I would be useless at.”

“Like what?” asked Jack curiously, deigning to turn his head and look her way then.

Elizabeth’s answer was simple and came with a winning smile that he soon returned;

“How to be the next uncatchable, unforgettable Captain Sparrow, of course.”


	6. F is for Fidelity

“Well, if it isn’t our old friend, Jack Sparrow,” said Scarlett as she sidled up to the man himself where he was stood at the bar, a bottle of rum in his hand.

“Ladies,” he greeted both her to his right, and Giselle to his left. “I do believe you’re missing a 'Captain' in that sentence somewhere,” he told Scarlett with a look.

“Ah, but can he still hold the title well enough?” Giselle giggled. “For we have heard wicked rumours, Jack. Tales of your becoming an honest and married man, with a child no less.”

There was a time when Jack would have denied these things, be they true or not. Perhaps so he might make merry with all the local wenches in spite of his ties, or maybe just for the jolly jape of the lies he could spin that all would believe simply because he was Captain Jack Sparrow. Things were different now. He had no use for these women and their games and niceties, but it was only now in this moment he really noticed the change in himself.

“You know, ladies,” he said, backing away from them before they decided to slap him again for what he was about to say. “As lovely as you are, the rumours you hear about dear old Jack are in fact true.”

“But if you were to be tamed, Jack, why not by me?” asked Giselle, looking forlorn, even as she pushed out her ample chest.

“Or me!” Scarlett piped up next, getting in the way of her so-called friend.

In a matter of moments a cat-fight broke out, and Jack was more than happy to make his escape, back to his ship and the arms of his beloved Elizabeth. If that made him less of a pirate in anyone’s eyes, well, then he would see to it that such persons ceased to be able to see through said eyes, as soon as possible.

“I thought you would be gone longer than this,” said Elizabeth, sitting up the bed just as soon as Jack came in through the door.

“Nothing there to hold a fella’s interest, darlin’,” he told her as he sat down beside her and leaned in for a kiss. “Not this fella anyway.”

His wife was more than happy to hear that as she returned his apparent passion in equal measure.


	7. G is for Guilty

“No, now hush... hush, Bella, please!” Jack urged her desperately, but the little girl continued to wail on and on.

There was no consoling the child it seemed, not that Captain Sparrow was entirely adept at comforting anyone at the best of times. He did alright with his dear Lizzie, and Annabella herself when he had to, though her mother was much better at it, and it really wasn’t helping Jack’s concentration when he was feeling so bad about why his little pirate girl was bawling in the first place!

“What on Earth is happening?” asked Elizabeth with obvious concern as she appeared from below decks, pushing her loose flying hair out of her face.

“Nothing,” said Jack immediately, reaching down to scoop his daughter up from the ground and hold her tight. “Nothing _much_?” he amended when Elizabeth looked at him with a raised eyebrow and an expression that said she didn’t believe a word of it. “Alright, something, but nothing of something,” he tried to explain as Annabella wailed on and reached out her arms to her mother.

“Mama!” she cried for Elizabeth to take her, which she did.

“Shush now, Annie, come on,” she tried to calm the child, patting her back and trying her best to ease her tears.

As her hand moved to the little girls head she felt the start of a distinct bump already forming there and she gasped.

“'twas but a mishap, luv,” said Jack, looking more afraid than Elizabeth had ever seen him. “One minute she was almost up and then... down,” he described, his hand elevating and dropping fast as he demonstrated his daughter’s unfortunate fall. “I couldn’t help her, I just... failed,” he said, the word apparently foreign to him, his beloved was certain of it.

“Jack,” she said, holding her whimpering daughter close with one arm as she reached out to him with the other hand, “I don’t blame you,” she assured him. “Children fall, they get bumps and bruises, it’s normal,” she promised.

He looked so genuinely wounded to know he had allowed Annabella to get hurt, it almost broke Elizabeth’s heart, and yet at the same time brought a smile as she realised all over again just how much Jack had learnt to love.

“Still sorry,” he muttered, as he put a gentle hand to Annabella’s bumped head, granting her the privilege of being one of the very few that Captain Jack Sparrow would ever apologise to in his whole life.


	8. H is for Husbands

“So it’s true,” said Will, wondering now if he had been a fool to beg one days grace from Calypso just to come here and see with his own eyes if the rumours he’d heard were true.

“Will, I’m so sorry if this hurts you,” said Elizabeth, tears in her eyes. “I would never do that deliberately, but I...”

“You had to be true to your heart, Elizabeth.” The Captain of the Flying Dutchman smiled slightly. “I’m not blind, you know? A part of me always wondered. You and Jack are so alike in so many ways.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something, anything, perhaps to argue the point or make further apologies, but nothing seemed right for this moment.

“Will Turner,” said an unmistakable voice then and both turned to see Jack approaching, his daughter held with one arm, whilst the other hovered at his sword (just in case). “Ten years up already, is it? You’d think I would’ve noticed such a passing of time.”

“Indeed, Jack,” said his fellow Captain with a smile. “Another seven years or more 'til my feet may touch dry land, but I was granted a day away from my duty so I might be here aboard the Pearl... to say my goodbyes.”

His happy expression faltered then as he looked to Elizabeth.

“Oh, Will!” she cried, even as Jack’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and her daughter wriggled to be handed over. “Not goodbye. Not forever,” she said desperately, though her old lover’s eyes seemed transfixed on the dark-haired child in her arms. “This is Annabella,” she introduced. “Sweetheart, this is Uncle Will.”

Elizabeth smiled through her tears.

“She is... beautiful,” ‘Uncle’ Will said honestly. “As you are Elizabeth. As you are as a family. Perhaps we should have realised from the very beginning that this was how things must be.”

As Will turned to go then, crossing the planks back onto the Flying Dutchman where his father and crew waited to travel back to the beyond, Elizabeth leaned into Jack’s embrace and continued to cry.

“Having regrets, luv?” her current husband asked, though his eyes remained fixed on the man she used to call her love.

“Only one.” Elizabeth sniffed as she looked up into his eyes. “I wish I had married you first and saved us all some heart-ache.”

“And to think you said things would never have worked out between us.” He smirked.

“I just couldn’t keep telling myself that.” She smiled back just the same, as they kissed.


	9. I is for Innocent

The sound of squawking was loud and shrill as a none too happy parrot flew up amongst the rigging. Cotton waved his arms and encouraged the other men to call the creature down, to quieten its noise that continued with a ferocity the like of which had never been heard from the bird before. The pirates attempts were all made in vain, and it wasn’t difficult to see why the poor parrot was so distraught. Even at this distance it was clear that the bird was missing several tail feathers, though where he might’ve lost them was as yet unclear to most if not all persons aboard the Pearl.

“What on Earth...?” Elizabeth gasped as she appeared from below deck and saw the furore occurring above.

“Parrot’s having some sort of upset,” said Jack calmly as he continued to steer the ship steadily across the sea, apparently completely unphased by the deafening squawk of Cotton’s parrot or several of his crew running up and down like crazy people.

Held tight to his side, Annabella giggled happily, almost mischievously, Elizabeth noted. If she didn’t know better, she would say that her little girl had caused all this fuss, and yet she could hardly believe it of the innocent child.

In a moment, Gibbs was gabbling at the lady Captain, taking her attention from a smirking Jack and still giggling Annabella.

“Pretty,” she said softly, shoving her hand suddenly in daddy’s face, fingers still clutching onto the most brightly coloured feathers.

“A pretty secret, little Bella,” Jack reminded her in a whisper, encouraging her to put her arm back down and hide the parrots tail out of sight.

It wouldn’t do to have Elizabeth find out the truth, or Cotton, or the other pirates who were not all sold on the idea of the Pearl’s newest crew member as it was. Bella was an innocent in her mother’s eyes, as all children should be, but Jack knew better.

“Daddy’s little pirate girl,” he chuckled, his eyes back on the horizon as the chaos continued behind him and his child.


	10. J is for Jealousy

It was a ridiculous notion, if not completely unfounded. Elizabeth had really never thought of herself as the jealous type, not in any way at all. When she and Jack formed an alliance, she was well aware that he was fickle and predisposed to wandering, if not any other part of him but his eyes. There were women aplenty that had been charmed by Captain Jack Sparrow, she was certain, though he perhaps had embellished on his many encounters as he was want to do with all things. Still, when they became all but wed, Elizabeth had trusted in Jack to leave go his infidelities and habits with any local wench or women of disrepute that came his way. He was faithful, as ridiculous a notion as that might seem to anyone who knew him before, or had yet to meet his good lady wife. No, there was never a time when Elizabeth felt jealous of a woman, and never a time when she was jealous of Jack, despite the fact the crew clearly paid more heed to his orders than her own. They were both Captains, and her the Pirate King, she could almost out-rank her husband in that respect, but she never did try. He saw her as an equal and it was all that mattered where status was concerned - she never cared the men would always look to him over her, it suited her just fine.

All these people for which Elizabeth found no jealousy at all, and yet a green-eyed monster still dwelled within, one she was entirely ashamed to realise she possessed. If anyone had accused her of such a thing, she would deny it to her last breath, and yet it was as true as ever anything had been. There were times when she was jealous of one simple relationship aboard ship, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not make that feeling go away. Jack and Annabella were so very close, she was clearly going to be Daddy’s girl before ever her Mother’s angel.

Of course, this was petty jealousy and one that Elizabeth would not allow to rule her, besides, there were times aplenty in the future when Bella was bound to be all too glad of the single female presence aboard the ship. Let Jack enjoy his time being the centre of his daughter’s universe, she would pack away that spark of jealousy, not allowing it to burn into a fire, not least because she loved her darling husband and child too much to ever suspect them of hurting her deliberately. Besides, Elizabeth knew that, come her teenage years, Bella was bound to find all men ignorant and repulsive in many ways, and only a mother’s love, support, and shoulder to cry on would do.


	11. K is for Kids

“Annabella, be careful!” Elizabeth warned the child who only stared at her a moment then when right back to playing with Cotton’s parrot.

“Think she can hold her own, luv,” Jack told her as he spotted what Bella was doing, grabbing at the poor birds feathers as she had done many times before, once rather too successfully, though to this day Elizabeth didn’t know about that, and never needed to.

“I really wish she wouldn’t play with that bird.” She winced as she watched her child crawl after the parrot who squawked and complained, flapping all around the child’s head.

To her credit, Annabella seemed unaffected by the whole ordeal, only sad when the bird flew away altogether, leaving her alone. She put up her hand and waved bye-bye to the parrot for now, as Elizabeth went over to her and scooped her up in her arms. Baby Bella gabbled away in nonsense to her mother, as Lizzie kissed her forehead.

“Jack, I think she’s lonely,” she said with a sigh as she rejoined her husband where he was checking the map spread out at the helm.

“It’s not as if she’s short of company on a ship full of people, dear Lizzie,” he reminded her, barely looking up from his charts.

“People, yes,” Elizabeth agreed, “but not other children. She is the only one and likely to be so unless we do something about it.”

An idea came to Jack’s mind then, though he wasn’t entirely certain it was the point his wife had meant to make. His map was dutifully rolled up and put away, as he called for Mr Gibbs quite loudly.

“Yes, Cap’n,” he said as he came all in a rush, sure something terrible must be happening from the way his master bellowed for him.

With a grin, Jack lifted Bella from Elizabeth’s arms and handed the baby over to his second.

“There you go, Bella,” he said easily. “Now you play nicely with Uncle Gibbsy a while,” he told her, as Elizabeth looked between them with a clearly baffled expression.

“I don’t understand,” she admitted, even as Jack took a hold of her hand and began walking.

“You want other kids for Bella to play with, darlin’,” he said with a smirk. “We best get started.” He winked as he led her, blushing and giggling, to their cabin - there really was no way to argue.


	12. L is for Land

It was a whole new experience for Annabella, and Elizabeth had been somewhat apprehensive about it all. The Black Pearl was home, and that was never going to change, but there were times when going ashore was necessary. Collecting supplies, making deals, allowing the men a little time to themselves. Never once since the birth of their daughter had Jack and Elizabeth left the ship on pleasure bent, until today.

The beach was white from side to side, the sand warmed by the sun, calm and gentle waves of clear blue water lapping the shore. It was all so serene and beautiful, and Elizabeth was glad enough to be here, lying out on a blaket with her husband by her side and their daughter just a few feet away, discovering the wonder of playing with this new substance she had yet to encounter. Laughter escaped her throat, as a thought crossed Elizabeth’s mind, catching the attention of both Annabella and Jack.

“What’s so funny, luv?” her husband asked her from beneath his hat that had been propped over his face, keeping the harshness of the sun’s rays at bay a while.

“Nothing really,” she lied, covering her mouth with her hand and trying to hide furthering snickering.

Annabella looked at her with an inquisitive little smile, jabbering nonsense as she ran her hands through the sand and wondered why she had never felt so still before.

“Sniggering at nothing now, is it?” Jack checked, sitting up, taking his hat and placing it on Bella’s head and making her giggle too. “Might have to start wondering if your mind’s going, Lizzie,” he teased her, as he often did.

“Very well,” she replied with a smile that would not fade. “I shall admit, I was thinking how good a thing it was we had brought Annabella to land first when she was still unable to walk.”

“Because chasing her down the beach would be bloody tiring?” asked Jack, not understanding her logic exactly.

“Well, yes,” she agreed, lying down closer to him, “but the thought did occur that if she already had her sea legs, she might find it difficult to find her... land legs,” she said, with a look that she was sure he ought to be able to read, and yet almost feared he would.

“Don’t know what you mean, Lizzie,” he said haughtily covering his face with his hat once again as he lie down and feigned sleep.

Elizabeth chose not to say anymore, hiding further giggles in her hand.


	13. M is for Mimic

“Look at the birds, Annabella,” Elizabeth encouraged her daughter as she walked across the deck of the Pearl carrying the child on her hip. “Can you say birds?” she asked her.

A bunch of nonsense gurgling was all the response heard from the little girl who had yet to speak a whole word of any kind. It wasn’t so very unusual, after all, she was not a year old yet. Still, Elizabeth tried her best to encourage her baby girl in her talking and walking and all things.

“What about the sea?” she tried for a simpler word. “Sea?” she tried as she pointed out at the ocean.

Annabella remained unmoved, and only stared at her mother with wide-eyed confusion.

“When my Bella wants to speak, dearie, she will speak,” said Jack as he approached his wife and child. “No sooner or later than that, savvy?” he told Elizabeth, who sighed heavily.

“I know,” she agreed, as Bella reached for her father and was duly handed to him. “I just thought if I kept trying she might find some words amongst all those little sounds she makes.” She shrugged, leaning on the side of the ship and looking out across the ocean. “If anything should inspire her it ought to be a view such as this.”

“True enough.” Jack nodded his agreement, bouncing his daughter in his arms. “But when you’re ready to talk, little one, then talk you will. Isn’t that right?”

“Savvy?”

The sound of it was so unexpected that all Elizabeth and Jack could do was turn and gape at each. For the briefest moment, they considered that it must have been one of them that spoke, but that didn’t make any sense for the tone was too high for Jack, and too out of place and character for his Lizzie.

“Bella?” the Captain checked, tilting his head as he stared at the giggling child in his arms.

“What did you say, darling?” Elizabeth asked her with a smile forming on her lips.

“Savvy!” the child repeated with a gleeful giggle. “Savvy, savvy, savvy!”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but laugh at the turn of events.

“Well, Jack,” she said, hugging the both of them together, “she truly is her father’s daughter.”


	14. N is for Neverland

Elizabeth stood in the doorway to the cabin, watching and listening as Jack continued on with this bedtime story to Annabella. It was quite strange sometimes to think he had been such a legendary pirate, so supposedly brutal and merciless to others. Whilst he could still be that man with his enemies, there was a vast difference between the Captain Jack Sparrow that commanded the Pearl, and the sweet husband and father he could be behind closed doors.

“And so, the hero of our story, saved all the lonely little children from their horrible lives,” Jack continued his fairytale story, “having slain the diabolical crocodile that had eaten his hand and that nasty little flying boy who only wanted to cause trouble for everyone.”

Elizabeth’s smile turned to a frown as she listened. This was not a story she remembered from her childhood, in fact it sounded decidedly backwards, if she was right.

“Jack?” she said as she came further into the room and looked over his shoulder at the book he had hastily closed. “What story were you telling Annabella?” she checked.

“None of your rubbish out of this thing, that’s for certain,” he told her, handing over said tome before leaning into the crib and kissing his daughter’s head. “Sleep tight, Bella, darlin’,” he told her, before turning to leave the room.

Elizabeth stared after him mouth agape, eyes shifting to her sleeping baby and then the book of fairytales in her hands that she was sure had been open at ‘Peter Pan’.

“Teach them to make a mockery of my Uncle Hook,” she heard Jack mutter before the door closed with a dull thud behind him.

Elizabeth really wasn’t sure what to say.


	15. O is for One

“Happy Birthday, darling!” Elizabeth smiled as she helped unwrap the present she had bought for her daughter’s 1st Birthday.

“Mama... Dada... Happy! Savvy?” Annabella rattled out her usual set of words that she was so proud to know and say.

She clapped her hands wildly at the sight of such a pretty dress in her mother’s hands, though it was the sceptical look on Jack’s face that took Elizabeth’s attention.

“You don’t like it,” she accused him, even as Annabella grabbed at the pretty cream fabric, all covered with lace and beads.

“Not at all, luv,” Jack assured her. “’S lovely, as dresses go. You know I love a good dress on a lady, and when it comes to you yourself, dearie, _off_ a lady.” He winked. “But my Bella is but a babe in arms still and such a thing has no practicalities for the daughter of pirates such as ourselves.”

“I wear dresses,” she pointed out, “and as you always tell me, I am a pirate just as much as you are.”

Jack opened his mouth to respond to that and then closed it again quickly when he realised he had no clever answer to give. It was unusual for Captain Sparrow to find himself stumped for an answer to anything and yet where Elizabeth was concerned, he often came close to losing the battle of words and wits.

Baby Bella certainly seemed pleased enough with her dress, and Jack would never deny her any gift, indeed he would deny her nothing at all, his precious baby girl. This was why it seemed strange to Elizabeth that her husband should be so odd about the present she had given to her.

Apparently all it took was twin looks of confusion from mother and child before Captain Sparrow cracked, something that was bound to get ever more effective as Bella grew older, he thought.

“Hardly goes with the hat, does it?” he grumbled, showing for the first time the gift he had bought for his daughter; what had to have been a specially made hat in the style of his own but small enough to fit the head of a one year old child.

“Oh, Jack.” Elizabeth smiled, biting her lip so as not to actually laugh as they positioned the tricorn on their daughters head and watched her clap and giggle happily.

“Mama, Dada, happy, savvy?” she told them with apparent delight.

It was a perfect birthday for a little pirate girl.


	16. P is for Punishment

They’d had a ridiculous fight over status that ought not to matter, such was the way when the men got Jack riled up and he in turn angered Elizabeth. She accused him of thinking the job of raising their child was nothing compared to his Captaining a ship, not exactly what he had said but he still jumped onto the point she seemed to think he’d made. One minute they were arguing, the next she had thrown a plate at his head and made for the door, telling him to see how easy it was to look after a child alone. Jack never got a chance to answer her, though he yelled a few choice words in her wake. To this day the woman could be the most insufferable wench, and though he loved her and always would, there were times he could strangle her just the same!

Elizabeth was thinking much the same things about her husband as she headed to the tavern with the men, a night of drinking and carousing on the cards. In reality, she did not enjoy the party atmosphere, but drowned her sorrows in too much rum that she had all too easily developed a taste for since admitting her pirate status. When she arrived home, staggering as badly as Jack usually did (with or without the aid of alcohol) stumbling in through the door, she found her lover laid out on their bed, Annabella curled up on his chest, the pair of them sound asleep.

There was no wanton destruction, no panic, and no fuss. Clearly Jack had coped much better than she ever expected he might, most likely better than even he had thought he could. As she laid down beside her husband and child, Elizabeth had to wonder who had really suffered more tonight? And who had learnt the bigger lesson?


	17. Q is for Quest

It was a real adventure, a daring mission for the bravest pirate. There was no room for hesitation, for the slightest mistake. Without a sound, she peeked out from her hiding place, checking the coast was clear. They were distracted in the game they played together, completely unaware of the theft that was about to take place. Armed with her trusty weapon in hand, she made her next move. Silent and quick, she dodged quickly across the deck, already used to the rocking motion the sea brought. It was a perfect crime, no-one would ever suspect her. She was almost there, almost at her treasure, and nobody could stop her now. At the last she stumbled, tried in vain to right herself but failed. With an almighty thud, she landed in a heap on the floor, her weapon skittering from her hand, leaving her alone and helpless - she screamed.

“Oh, darling!” Elizabeth rushed to Annabella the moment she heard her cry and scooped her up into her arms.

Jack looked concerned but also confused, not least since he was sure he’d left Bella under the watchful eye of Mr Gibbs. Though he was no relation, he played the grandfather role shockingly well most of the time. A second bout of confusion overcame the Captain of the Black Pearl as he spotted a fork on the deck not far from where Bella had fallen.

“I don’t think she’s hurt,” Elizabeth was saying as she bounced her daughter in her arms and tried to soothe her tears, at the same time checking her for injuries. “Probably just the shock of falling that made her so upset.”

“Can’t understand what she was doing...” said Jack vaguely, nodding absently at his wife’s words as he moved towards the cabin and peered in through the door.

Gibbs was fast asleep in the chair, dead to the world, without an idea his small charge had escaped through a gap barely big enough for her body. Armed with a fork for defence and with her pirate’s hat on her head, he wondered what Bella’s quest had been about. His answer came when she continued to wail, reaching over Lizzie’s shoulder for the target she could not quite reach - his compass. With a smile he wandered over, picked up said compass and handed it to her.

Immediately, Bella hushed her noise and grinned up at Jack. When one plan fails, you always have another in reserve. Daddy had taught her that already.


	18. R is for Remember

Though they knew better than to try to find safe harbour there, they were within view of Port Royal tonight. Just a glimpse of the place in the dark and Elizabeth knew it, and found so very many memories surfaced at the sight.

“My father, and James, and Will.” She sighed as she stood at the very helm of the ship looking out. “All the important men in my life, I remember from there.”

“Thanks a lot, luv,” said her husband with apparent annoyance, but then she ought to have known he would react that way.

“Jack.” She rolled her eyes as she turned to lean her back against the rail and look his way. “You know very well that I include you in that list,” she reminded him. “Of course, you are the top of it,” she said, and he grinned, all white and gold, at that comment, as she knew he would. “In any case, my first memories of you are at Port Royal too” she reminded him. “Some more pleasant than others” she recalled with a wry smile as he approached her, putting his hands to her waist and pulling her close.

“Oh, I don’t know, Lizzie dear,” he said with a wicked smirk. “My very first memories of our meeting are all very... _pleasant_ ,” he told her, making it very clear from the way his hands moved over her body just exactly which moments he was recalling.

Yes, Jack had been the first man to undress her, though she had not been conscious at the time and rather missed any fun that could have been had. Elizabeth had dreamt so long of meeting a real pirate, even of having some kind of romance with one, and the moment she got the chance, she was out cold in a dead faint!

“You seem to forget, Captain Sparrow,” she teased him, shifting out of his arms, “at the very next, you had a gun to my head.”

“Purely business, darlin’,” he reminded her with a shrug of his shoulders, advancing on her even now. “Had to make my get away somehow, else how to remain the dashing villainous hero of your dreams?” He smirked as he backed her into a corner, as she knew he would.

Elizabeth had planned it thus, after all, she held no ill will against Jack for his treatment of her in the beginning. He had done what he had to do, as she had done months later aboard this very ship when the Kraken came. They had come so far now.

“Perhaps you might remind me how it was you first saved my life, Jack,” she said with a wicked smile on her lips, “since I am unable to remember the particulars.”

Whisking her away to the cabin in an instant, it was clear Captain Jack Sparrow did not need asking twice.


	19. S is for Siblings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written in verse and refers to Jack's sister, as invented by the marvellous mrspencil over at Fanfiction.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6358266/1/The-Adventures-of-Flannelette-the-Pirate-Maiden

Oh for shame,  
Bella babe,  
No sibling yet  
for her.  
Though Mum and Dad have done their best,  
To provide a bro or sis.  
Much time spent working on the task,  
And yet to no avail.  
A lonely girl, this child remains,  
Causing Lizzie much distress.

“I blame me!  
Only child,  
Surely does run,  
in genes.”  
The Pirate King sobs with sadness  
Though her husband tells her no.  
A single child is not, he thinks  
Hereditary fate.  
Jack has a sister of is own,  
And tells his poor Lizzie so.

“But I have  
never known,”  
She reminds him  
Sniffing.  
“Because I never told you, luv.”  
He responds, with such a smile.  
“But indeed I have a sister,  
so fair, and brave, and true,  
with flame red hair and rapier wit,  
who’ll go the extra mile.”

“A sister.”  
Liz smiled  
Then a little  
Hopeful  
“Perhaps our dear Annabella  
Will one day be a sister...  
And be a good and better girl  
Than she might be without  
But Jack, so long without your own,  
You surely must have missed her?”

Jack thinks then  
Shakes his head.  
Lizzie doesn’t  
Know her.  
She would not like Jack’s dear sister  
That he was willing to bet.  
Here they are now, Captains both  
And so happy as could be  
Such things might be impossible  
With the presence of Flannelette!


	20. T is for Teague

“Jack?” Elizabeth’s hand on his arm stopped him short of walking into the room. “I don’t...” she faltered as he looked back at her. “What do you think he’ll say?”

“Can’t have an idea, luv, ‘til he actually says it, now can I?” he told her with a smirk. “Be a bloody clever trick though...” he considered as he pulled his arm from her grasp then and reached once again for the handle on the door.

Swallowing hard, Elizabeth clasped Bella’s hand tighter in her own and followed Jack into the hall. The empty table and over-sized chairs looked much more prominent since they were not now filled with the members of the Brethren Court, and yet they got no attention from the family of three as they came into the room. There at the back, in his usual seat, strumming his guitar, was the Keeper of the Code, Captain Teague.

“Well, well, well,” he said with a wry smile as he ceased his playing just the moment they were before him. “If it isn’t my Jacky boy... and his wife, the King.”

His smile shifted to a smirk at the look on Elizabeth’s face then. The poor girl might be a pirate and a good one at that, but she was still a Governor’s daughter in her manners and such, and still to easily surprised by the ways things worked in his world.

“Shoulda known you wouldn’t need an introduction,” said Jack, rolling his eyes, “or an explanation.”

“Eyes and ears all over the Seven Seas, Jacky,” his father reminded him, though he wasn’t looking at him at all.

Teague’s eyes were fixed on Annabella as hers were on him, the man she had heard of and yet never laid eyes on until today. One might expect so small a child to be afraid of a strange old man she never met, and yet she was not.

“Bella,” she said proudly of herself as her hand slipped free of Elizabeth’s grasp and she toddled closer to the chair in which Teague sat, looking intently at his wizened face then briefly glancing to her own father and back. “Meet you, happy.” She grinned widely, giggling when she was suddenly swept up onto his knee.

“Never thought I’d live to see the day.” He smiled widely as he looked to his son. “If I lived a thousand years and more, never thought you’d make me a grandad, son.”

“You’re not the only bloody one,” Jack agreed with a smile of his own, though he tried not to look too pleased that he had made his father proud for once.

Teague didn’t need to know how much it meant to him.


	21. U is for Unexpected

Elizabeth looked almost nervous as she entered the room, almost as nervous as the first day they arrived, and yet it had been weeks now and she had seemed fine before.

“Mama!” Annabella squealed delightedly, scrambling down from her grandfather’s lap to run to Elizabeth.

“She does you credit, luv,” Teague told his daughter-in-law as she scooped up her daughter into her arms for a hug. “A real bonnie lass, like you, and like Jacky’s poor mother, God rest her soul.”

“Thank you.” Elizabeth smiled, looking from father to son and back again. “I am glad you are pleased with her.”

“Surprised me,” said Jack with a look. “Almost thought you’d disown me for daring to settle down.”

Teague laughed heartily at the accusation, but never really answered it as he looked back at Elizabeth.

“The beautiful baby daughter of my only son and the most beautiful Pirate King that ever led the Brethren Court to victory?” he said proudly. “What could make an old man happier?” he asked her, presumably rhetorically though she had an answer anyway.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she considered with a smirk that Jack himself would be proud of, as she let Annabella down to run around some more. “Perhaps, _two_ grandchildren?” she suggested, much to her husband’s shock and her father-in-law’s apparent delight.

“Well, well, Jacky boy.” He chuckled. “You ‘ave been busy.”

The fact was, Jack wasn’t hearing or even seeing his father right now. He saw only Elizabeth, positively aglow as she was. He strode over to her, taking her in his arms and kissing her soundly on the lips, so much as to take her breath away.

When he pulled back a moment later, Elizabeth was both concerned and entirely confused by the deep frown on his face.

“What is it, Jack?” she asked worriedly.

“Just thinking,” he considered, looking equally troubled, keeping his voice quiet so as not to be overheard. “If you are with child... well, no point to our fun anymore then,” he said with a knowing look, apparently certain that his services were now unneeded and unwanted both!

Elizabeth locked her arms tighter around her husband's neck when he tried to pull away. She smiled as she checked over his shoulder that Teague and Annabella were preoccupied, then leaned in close to whisper;

“Oh I wouldn’t say that, Jack.” She giggled, “I wouldn’t say that at all,” she told him, initiating another kiss and making herself very clear indeed.


	22. V is for Violence

It was impossible to forget that Jack Sparrow was a pirate, but there were times when Elizabeth had lost sight of what that really meant.

For all that he was wanted by the authorities so long, the long list of crimes he committed were never so very terrible compared to others. Other notable pirates, such as Blackbeard, were notorious for torture, abuse, and murder. No innocent ever died at Captain Sparrow’s hand, only those that would cross him, those that had it coming. Elizabeth could not forget the chain about her neck, the pistol to her head that first day she had met Jack, but equally as easily she recalled the fact he had saved her life that day, without ever knowing who she was, without ever trying anything he shouldn’t have with her.

It had been clear throughout that Jack would sooner talk his way out of trouble rather than fight, preferred to make a deal than leave a body behind. Elizabeth loved him as much for his quick-wit and master-mind as for anything else, though she never told him so. Jack was proud enough of his abilities with a sword and he had every right to be. For practice they would spar together and he knew tricks that even Elizabeth did not see coming after so much tuition from Will. Still, despite the games, the fast-talking, the alternate skills Jack possessed, Elizabeth always knew she could trust in him to do what needed to be done when the occasion arose.

There was a betrayer amongst them, one of the newer members of the crew who had proven he could not be trusted. This creature (for a man he was definitely not) had been plotting not just a mutiny, but the destruction of the Captain’s family. Jack’s reaction had been fierce and violent, and Elizabeth was sure she had never seen such hell-fire in his eyes. He was out for blood and vengeance both on the blaggard that would put his wife, daughter, and unborn second child in peril. Blood was drawn, hot and red as lava, spilt upon the deck of the Pearl. Screams were heard, echoing across the ocean, telling all that Jack was not a man to be crossed this way.

A body floated away across the sea, proof that a violent streak still very much existed in the heart of Captain Sparrow, so easily awakened when those he truly loved were put in danger.

It was impossible to forget that Jack Sparrow was a pirate, but there were times when Elizabeth was reminded, and could not love him more if she tried.


	23. W is for Weathered

When he first met her, fished her out of the ocean, corset and all, Elizabeth reminded Jack of a china doll. She was so seemingly fragile, so oddly pale... He wasn’t blind, he knew she was a beauty, but she held no real charm in those first moments. Later, as she stood before him, angry and defiant but not at all afraid of the pistol at her temple, then Jack had seen his dear Lizzie’s true beauty. There was a fire in her eyes then, passion and drive, indignance and stunning truth. Those bright eyes of defiance and justice lit up her pale face and made her ten times more attractive to Captain Jack Sparrow.

Years had passed since then, months spent in each others company and apart. Back and forth until the realisation struck that they were as made for each other as the ship was for the ocean. In all this time, Jack proudly watched Elizabeth change. He had helped her along but it was not entirely his doing as she came to accept her pirate nature, borne of destiny rather than blood as Will’s had been. In those years of growing and adapting, of marriage and child-bearing, Jack watched Elizabeth change in other ways. Her skin was growing more tanned, her hair less fussily groomed. She was becoming weathered by the storms she faced, but brightened by the sun at the same time.

There she was, his wife and lover, goddess and muse, his reason for being, stood with her hands clasping the rail of the ship, the salt spray hitting face and the wind in her hair. Carrying their second child by no means took away from her beauty but only added to it in her husband’s eyes. So many years his junior, Jack was almost certain he would not live to see her old and yet knew if the time came, Elizabeth could grow wrinkled and wizened as the decades slipped by, and at a hundred or more years, he would still love her just as well as did now.


	24. X is for Xeric

Elizabeth hadn’t a notion what had started the craving, for she never really had it before. In the beginning, she had sworn she disliked rum immensely and that it was evil, because that was what she had been taught as a young woman growing up in society. Things changed when she got her first taste, and though she claimed to dislike it still, that was a lie. The flavour was nice enough and the warmth inside her that it brought was both comforting and delicious. She drank when she felt like it, perhaps to toast an occasion, or when there was no fresh water to be had. Elizabeth was by no means as obsessed as Jack with the bottle that pirates had made their friend... not until lately.

About half way into her pregnancy, Elizabeth developed the most ridiculous craving for rum and had quite drunk the ship dry in the weeks that followed. The men were not happy, and understandably so when they were so far from land and therefore further opportunities to gather more supplies, but they said not a word in front of the Captain or his lady. Then there was Jack himself, once again lamenting the disappointment of his favourite drink being gone. Plus he had been quite literally left holding the baby when Lizzie would slate her thirst to the point of collapse. Still, Jack’s biggest worry remained as it always was, ahead of wondering how Lizzie’s head would feel come morning or how he was to run a ship and care for a toddler at the same time, in his now dry and terribly sober state.

“How am I to be Captain Jack Sparrow in such conditions?” he wondered aloud from his place at the helm, “and why is the rum always gone?!”


	25. Y is for Youth

“That is far too thoughtful a look on your face, dear Lizzie,” said Jack with some concern. “Always makes me nervous.”

Elizabeth smiled at that, she couldn’t help herself, completely certain as she was that she was the only one in front of whom the great Captain Sparrow would ever admit weakness of character such as nerves.

“There is nothing to worry about,” she promised him, one hand at her swollen belly, the other reaching to lace her fingers through his own there on the bed between them. “I was just thinking of names we might call our baby boy,” she told him.

“So bloody determined it’s a boy.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll laugh if it’s another lass.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Elizabeth scoffed, “for a third female would only serve to further outnumber you within this family.”

Jack considered her idea and then frowned hard on realising she was perfectly right.

“I miss dear old Dad,” he grumbled, noting that at least the numbers had been even at Shipwreck Cover - two males and two females.

“Jack, please!” Elizabeth urged him. “Don’t be so childish. I want to have a serious conversation about the naming of our son,” she said, with evident determination.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk about it. Indeed Captain Sparrow had very definite thoughts about the naming of any son he might father, he just felt strange actually saying such things out loud. There was little he couldn’t say to his beloved, of course, but so far this had proven to be one of them.

“John Teague,” he said, an almost inaudible mutter behind his own hand.

“I beg your pardon?” his wife replied, genuinely baffled.

Jack huffed and sighed as if her not hearing him were such a travesty, as if having to repeat himself was a huge inconvenience.

“I want my son to be John Teague Sparrow,” he said too loudly and to the ceiling before stealing a glance at Elizabeth, “after me,” he added like an afterthought, just in case she didn’t understand.

Elizabeth suddenly found the ability to smile and laugh and cry all at the same time. She loved the idea of naming their son after Jack and the fact he had just shared his full name with her, something that she had never heard before, made the moment all the more special.

“Thank you,” she said giddily as she leaned over to kiss his cheek and hug him as best she could at eight months pregnant.

“For what?” asked her bemused husband as he stared at her.

“For being Captain John Teague Sparrow,” she said, smiling widely. “For being my Jack.”


	26. Z is for Zoom!

“What do you see, lad?” asked Captain Annabella Sparrow as she stood at the helm of her ship, the Black Pearl, two hands firmly on the wheel.

“Land, Cap’n,” her faithful first mate and brother answered as he peered through his telescope. “Tortuga is in sight.”

“Aye, Tortuga!” Captain Bella smiled. “There we shall gather men that shall be the fiercest of crews, and sail the seven seas as the scourge of... the seven seas,” she ended rather less dramatically and poetically than she had begun.

Johnny rolled his eyes as he turned to look at her.

“You’re a bit rubbish at rousing speeches, Bel,” he declared, hopping down from the railings and pocketing his telescope as he wandered over to his sister, “and your hat’s wonky.”

“So is your face,” said Bella, sticking out her tongue in a childish manner, their game now over apparently and their personas shifting back to the norm for siblings aged twelve and ten. “One day, I shall be Captain of the Pearl” said Bella definitely. “All this will be mine. Alright, _ours_ ,” she conceded as her younger brother looked indignantly up at her.

“Ah, now, maybe so and maybe not so, or neither as the case may be,” said Jack, suddenly approaching from behind and startling both his children. “Though time has moved on, and grown you shall be before your dear mother can blink an eye, _I_ am still Captain of the Pearl,” he told them both, gently moving Bella aside and taking his rightful place at the helm.

“But it’ll be our turn one day, won’t it, Dad?” asked Johnny in earnest.

“One day, son.” His father nodded absently, eyes flitting from his children to the horizon, or perhaps just to his dear Lizzie who lingered at the ship’s front end, staring out into the distance, their shared future which had so far proved so bright.

“I’ll be thirteen in two weeks,” Bella reminded him. “Practically grown up” she insisted.

“When the time comes, Bella, darlin’, you will be a Captain,” he assured her, leaning down and putting a hand to her cheek, “and not just any, but a Captain Sparrow, the very best of Captains there ever was or will be,” he promised, “but until then, you’ll mind your manners and take heed of your mother, savvy?”

“Aye aye, Cap’n!” both children agreed loudly, before chasing each other off to Lizzie who smiled widely as soon as they reached her.

Perhaps time moved on too quickly, Jack considered, but the life he had and the future he could see laid out before him, he would not trade for all the treasures of the world.


End file.
